roberta smith

Several publications have written articles blaming a large cedar sculpture by Ursula von Rydingsvard for a series of illnesses suffered by agents working out of the Miami field office of the FBI. However, according to reporter Benjamin Sutton, there’s no evidence suggesting that the sculpture is responsible for these health problems according to Federal Occupational Health and General Services Administration. [Hyperallergic]

Here come the Best of Lists. Roberta Smith and Holland Cotter are out with theirs and it is expansive. Nice to see that the Times critics like that much art. It’s easy to become cynical in the field so it means a lot for two established critics to still support so much art. [The New York Times]

David Salle observes that over the last few decades a focus on theory and relational aesthetics has eroded the idea that art has an “aura”. We then, he asks, do we have to replace it with? [ARTnews]

I gotta say, I love this art handlers calendar. It’s all black and white photographs of art handlers posing with art face. [Etsy]

This story in Pitchfork about the Oakland warehouse fire is really touching—A bar tender donated his tips to those who lost housemates to help cover rent—but also gets at the struggles of musicians. Venues are vulnerable to displacement. “When you have these closures and this stagnation, people are forced into spaces that aren’t proper.” Said Michael Buchanan, a local booker. “And when they lack healthy ways to express themselves, it can be destructive.” [Pitchfork]

The Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen has died at the age of 82. Let’s pay our respects to the man by listening to “There Is a War”. It seems appropriate right now. [YouTube]

A topical discussion between journalist Christopher Borrelli and Coya Paz, Director of Free Street Theater in Chicago, “If art can’t fix problems, what good is it?” Art is still important. Keep making it and we’ll keep paying attention. [Chicago Tribune]

Roberta Smith affectionately calls Marilyn Minter “A ‘Nasty Woman’ of Contemporary Art” in a great review of her exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. [The New York Times]

A rogue artist therapist set up shop in the 14th Street subway tunnel between Sixth and Seventh Avenues this Wednesday and asked people to share their thoughts on the election via sticky note. About 1500 people participated and those notes were stuck to the subway wall. [Gothamist]

Lise Ragbir, director of the Warfield Center Gallery at the University of Texas at Austin, writes about the importance of exhibition space devoted to art and stories about struggle. Concerning The Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture, “true, there is something disconcerting about housing a Michael Jackson costume and 10 shards of stained glass from the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in the same space.” [TIME]

A new Tumblr, “why we’re afraid”, tracks the surge of hate crimes that have escalated since Trump was elected. I (Michael) personally know two people who have been attacked by Trump supporters in the past 24 hours. This is terrifying. [why we’re afraid]

Critics are complaining that the lede in this auction report describes a shockingly insulated and privileged group. “There were no signs of a post-Brexit or Donald Trump election victory backlash in the art market tonight as, fairly predictably, every lot found a buyer in the first of Sotheby’s three-part, two-day sale of the David Bowie collection.” I’m going to save my outrage for other matters. [artnet News]

Steve Jansen theorizes that arts and culture flourish when a Republican is in the oval office, because artists and musicians are inspired by hardship and a rebellious spirit. It’s a compelling argument. But, like, not if we’re all dead. [Houston Press]

New York’s prison break gets an art twist. A prison guard allegedly swapped tools and other contraband with the two missing inmates for their works of art. [NBC NEWS]

MTV is rebranding, and from the looks of the MTV UK clip reel on Motherboard, featuring clips by artists commissioned to make shorts, it looks very net art 2012. “There’s a clear sort of aesthetic that MTV is culturing: pastel-swatched, bad 3D modeling, and visual features drawn directly from Tumblr-born microcultures.” [Motherboard]

Nothing to do with art, but wtf, it’s Friday: The article “Growing Older With Madonna” over at the Times has been filling up our internets. The author finds queasy fascination with the 57-year-old’s refusal to act her age. Doesn’t this seem like another press cycle though? In the 90s she suffered backlash because she wouldn’t stop taking her clothes off, left the eye of the press to have some kids, and when she returned, was lauded for presenting a more “mature” look, i.e., not taking her clothes off. Now she’s doing it again and people are surprised? [The New York Times]

Horses! Before Gavin Brown’s Enterprise bids adieu to its West Village gallery, it’s full of horses, artist Jannis Kounellis’s “Untitled (12 Horses),” to be exact. Roberta Smith describes a room full of shitting horses as a “gift” to the art world. [The New York Times]

Damn. Five museums run by the state of Illinois are preparing to close due to a budget stalemate. These include the Illinois State Museum in Springfield; the Dickson Mounds Museum and archaeological site in Lewiston; and three art galleries, Chicago and the affiliated artisans’ shop, the Lockport Gallery, and the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center at Rend Lake. Artworks and artifacts are currently in the process of being found new homes. [Chicago Tribune]

A bonanza of good news from the Supreme Court. Yesterday, they ruled that health care subsidies should be allowed, as this was the original intention of congress. GOOD. Today, they legalized same-sex marriages across the country. [The Internet]

A felony arrest warrant has been issued for Shepard Fairey who tagged properties in Detroit with his name. [Detroit Free Press]

Happy Friday! Here is a creepy, psychedelic sing-along on the topic of Jell-O. Brought to you by the musician Ariel Pink. [HUH.]

Someone is selling a Rodin on Craigslist. The sales writeup is lifted from from the Met. Buyer beware. [Craigslist via @shaneferro]

Relatedly, if you’re on Twitter follow Shane Ferro. She’s one of the best tweeters around. [Twitter]

Starbucks is being forced onto the side streets of New York because the rent is too high. [Commercial Observer]

Art critics Holland Cotter and Roberta Smith have picked out ten galleries to visit in various boroughs throughout the city. Finding art that’s likable is standard fare for art critics; what’s distinctive about their selections is how they focus on the changing landscape of each neighborhood, nearly as much as the art. Their write-ups capture a specific moment in gallery-time—before they move on, in the next wave of new developments. Cotter on the Upper East Side; Smith on Chelsea. [The New York Times]

After 12 years in office, Susan Henshaw Jones, will retire as director of the Museum of the City of New York. [Museum of the City of New York]

Spanx, and other shapewear, has been linked to a range of medical problems, like gastroesophogeal reflux disease. [Los Angeles Times]

Publicity stunt or “hell yes” moment? Gawker editor Hamilton Nolan writes an article about how his editorial staff met with union organizers. Gawker is thinking about forming a union; they’ve had one meeting about it. Nolan does write that “the organizing effort is still in the early stages” and “[i]t would be easier to have this conversation internally. But Gawker Media is, for better or worse, a company with a rich history of gossip.” [Gawker]

Roberta Smith writes about “Mr. Turner”, “Tim’s Vermeer”, and other movies about art from the perspective of an art critic. A wonderful reflection. [The New York Times]

Perhaps those upset about Uber’s recent booking fee to hail yellow cabs should just be thankful they aren’t taking a Pedicab? Animal reports a tourist who was charged $165 for a 15 block ride. [Animal New York]

Why does Penn Station only have six bathrooms? The Village Voice seeks answers from a swath of employees and frustrated travelers, to no avail. It just sucks. [Village Voice via Curbed]

Cuba artist Tania Bruguera was detained and released multiple times for staging a performance on the 30th in Havana in which she invited people to speak with a microphone on a podium, without censorship. The last update on the story is that Bruguera has been released, but can not leave the country for 3 months and is facing charges of “charges of resistance and disruption of public order.” [Hyperallergic]

Like everything else on Capitol Hill, a giant Calder sculpture has malfunctioned, ceased to rotate, and now hangs motionless in the Hart Senate office building. A Connecticut senator is fighting to get this piece moving again. Good luck with that. [artnet News]

Notes from a poverty jetset. If you’re in the art world, you are intimately familiar with the life described. [Momus]

How Britain sought to protect its art from nuclear war in the 1980’s. [Bloomberg]

The 2014 “best and worst” reader poll results are in over at Baer Faxt. I guess they tell us something about the average readership over there. Only the biggest galleries and museums get named. For example: Best US Gallery Show: Picasso at Gagosian, Worst US Gallery Show: Dan Colen at Gagosian. [The Baer Faxt]

Speaking of rats, Conde Nast battles infestation; looses. Particularly titillating is the image of Anna Wintour refusing to enter the building for fear of rats, and their feces. [New York Magazine]

Speaking of animals, Pope Francis opened up the gates of heaven yesterday when told a little boy that his dog will go to heaven. [The New York Times]

Fuck it: after a lifetime of shitty photos, I’m finally going to follow clickbait’s advice on selfie guidelines. As it turns out, natural smiling has been a major pitfall. NO NATURAL SMILES. [Answers.com]

Timeout London lists best new art. Yeah that pretty much looks like Chelsea. [Timeout]

A much-needed trip down memory lane: ANIMAL New York reminds us of George W. Bush’s torture legacy by commissioning a series of paintings, in the style of Bush’s dog paintings which helped to whitewash his administration’s atrocities. Bush passively allowed the CIA to commit horrendous acts of torture. Remember? [ANIMAL New York]

Thieves broke into a commercial gallery near Museo del Prado and stole 50 paintings overnight. The loot is worth approximately €400,000. They did so by punching through the adjacent wall of a former bar. [artnet News]

The Brits know how to protest. Outraged by new restrictions on online porn content, which forbid “face-sitting” people have come out to sit on each others’ faces and sing the Monty Python song “Sit on My Face”. This is wonderful. [Guardian]

Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced that Canada’s National Art Center will get $110 million for renovations. Glover praised Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his commitment to the arts, which is the biggest load of horseshit we’ve ever heard. This is the guy who complained government sponsored art events were all shrimp platters and limos. The reason the museum is getting money is because it’s been lumped into a larger program that provides renovations for defense buildings. Who ever it was who managed to arts organizations on that funding package needs to be thanked. [The Globe and Mail]

The damage from Sony Pictures hacked email just keeps going. The latest revaluation reveals Maureen Dowd showed her column to a Sony Exec prior to publishing. In many publications this is cause for firing – let’s hope that finally happens. Did Thomas Friedman and Mark Bittman send any incriminating emails too? Anything to force a little house cleaning on The Times abysmal op ed section. [Buzzfeed]

Benjamin Sutton writes a news story about a stolen Kinkade bronze bust of Jesus using the structure of “It Was The Night Before Christmas”. <3. [Hyperallergic]

Marina Galperina writes about what artists are doing with Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset. [Baku]

Tips on how to keep your art-filled marriage hot, and tips on what to do after the divorce: “‘The love of art grows exponentially after the appraiser’s report comes in,’ especially if items have grown in value, says Dallas-based lawyer Ike Vanden Eykel.” [Wall Street Journal]

Roberta Smith discusses Emma Sulkowicz’s “Carry That Weight.” Sulkowicz was raped in her Columbia dorm room in 2012, and until the man who attacked her leaves the school, she will carry a mattress with her everywhere she goes on campus. [The New York Times]

Jerry Saltz believes that Tino Sehgal has a monopoly on child actors in an art piece, claiming that Allora and Calzadilla’s new exhibition at Gladstone “borders on plagiarism.” The article reaches a crescendo of ridiculousness in its final lines, as Saltz decries the work “not art”, but someone’s idea of other people’s art. Labeling a work derivative should only require one line—if it’s a problem it is simply evidence of a common or weak idea—it would have been good to have read a critique of the work on its own terms. [Vulture]

The High Line’s final leg of construction comes to an end, and lo, Michael Kimmelman praises its view as a “heartbreaker,” a tour de force spanning more than just the Hudson River. Kimmelman doesn’t just revel in aesthetics; he brings up the entire bumpy past of the High Line, from corporate funding to a boom in condominium development along the High Line. [The New York Times]

The People’s Climate March drew an estimated 311,000 demonstrators in New York yesterday. The climax of the march is described as a moment of silence that occurred early afternoon pierced by a whistle followed by hundreds of thousands of marchers whooping and yelling. [The New York Times]

Yes, many people waiting in line for the new iPhone 6 were not buying it for themselves. Filmmaker Casey Neistat focuses on the “Chinese mafia” who were grabbing up the phones this weekend. [Gothamist]

Claudia Hart’s show at Bitforms is inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I take a look at the exhibition on Artnet; conceptually, Hart’s work is very weak. [Artnet]

Speaking of Bitforms, it seems the gallery cancelled Postfeminism, a show that was slated to open three weeks from now and was curated artist and curator Marisa Olson. Irate about the cancellation, Olson took her complaints to Facebook. [Facebook]

Bad news in San Francisco. Intersection for the Arts has suspended its programs and laid off curators. Their fiscal sponsorship program will remain in tact. [Kqed.Org]

Bad news for the Glasgow School of Art. A massive fire broke out at the school earlier today. [BBC]

Amazon is not making any friends in the literary community for actively discouraging people from buying books from the publisher Hatchett. Now, they have escalated that battle buy refusing orders. [The New York Times]

Roberta Smith says the New Museum is alive with music thanks to Ragnar Kjartansson. This is a review that makes you want to see the show. [The New York Times]

Tom Moody thinks the New Romantics exhibition at Eyebeam would have been better without the New Romantics lens. [Tom Moody]

All this week, the Art Market Monitor has been churning out doomsday scenarios for the collectoratti. The Italian art market is dying, and “Sadly, The Picasso Ceramics Market Isn’t For the Entry-Level Collector Anymore.” [The Art Market Monitor]

This week at artnet Paddy Johnson interviews Nicholas O’Brien, a co-curator of the exhibition The New Romantics, currently on view at Eyebeam. [artnet news]

The broken down World’s Fair towers in Flushing Meadows now have National Treasure status. There’s even talk of fixing them up! [New York Times]

New York Magazine features a whole bunch of Internet celebrities, and that’s gotta be a boon for their site. We only knew a couple of them, but Eckhaus Latta got a shoutout from Mike the Ruler. [New York Magazine]

100 new emojis on Vine. The only way you can see any of them is to pause the video. Nicely done! [Vine]

Peter Schjeldahl, with his tender prose and passionate research, is hard to leave, but it’s finally time to walk away. Enough with the MoMA and Guggenheim retrospectives! [The New Yorker]

For whatever reason, Roberta Smith ended up reviewing James Franco’s exhibition at Pace. She’s written about the actor-artist a lot. Thankfully, with this exhibition, she shows no mercy. Franco, she writes, seems informed by “confused desperation” and an “entitled narcissism.” She ends her piece with a death knell: “It’s hard not to feel some sympathy for him, while also wishing that someone or something would make him stop.” This is what we’ve all been thinking—that he needs to stop—and now she should never write about him again! [The New York Times]

Start-ups beware of the Red Herring Award. The company informs nominees of their opportunity and then charges them $3,820 for the privilege. This article was written in 2013, but as the awards are coming up again, it seemed a good time to issue the reminder that this resembles a scheme. [TechCrunch]

Judy Chicago is celebrating her 75th birthday with an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. During the press preview, she tells Village Voice reporter Lilly Lampe about her first meeting with critic Harold Rosenberg. “She brought her slides; he brought a hard-on.” [The Village Voice]

A quiz to end all Buzzfeed quizzes: the New Inquiry’s darkly sarcastic “What briefcase full of money are you?” [New Inquiry]